Pee-Wee's Big Adventure

Underrated by other critics because they havent had as many bicycles stolen as I have, Tim Burtons 1985 road-trip movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure brought Paul Reubens cable-TV man-boy character to the big screen in all his adenoidal glory. Resolutely pre-sexual, Pee-Wee lusts only after his tasseled one-speed cruiser, pursuing his bike across the Southwest. The whole thing is a kind of goof on De Sicas The Bicycle Thief, but its more surrealist than neorealistBurton makes America just as weird and plastic as his heros underdeveloped yet overgrown imagination. Pee-Wees cartoonish quest takes place in an oddly pliable world where his single-minded hunt begins to look like high principle. Performance by Al Simmons precedes the show. (PG) BRIAN MILLER